The present invention relates to a system for burning, drilling, or otherwise forming one or more desired vias, blind vias or other surface indentations, indicia, markings and/or other formations in a surface of a desired object, such as a substrate.
There are currently available a variety of systems for forming a hole, a via, a blind via or some other surface indentation in an exterior surface of an object, but many of these systems are very expensive to purchase and operate at relatively slow production rates.
Wherefore, the present invention seeks to overcome the above noted drawbacks of the prior art by providing a system which is relatively inexpensive to purchase and maintain while, at the same time, operates at increased production speeds so that the desired vias, blind vias, or other surface indentations, apertures or other surface markings can be achieved in a surface of a desired object during a shorter period of production time.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for ablating a desired high-density array or pattern of vias or other surface indentations or formations in a surface of an object to be processed.
Another object of the invention is to facilitate use of a variety of different lasers which operate at different wavelengths and pulse durations, to minimize the associated costs in connection with ablating a high-density array of blind vias, vias or other surface indentations or formations in a surface of an object to be processed. It is to be appreciated that an ultraviolet, a visual, an infrared as well as other types of lasers, extending across the entire spectrum, could be utilized in accordance with the teaching of the present invention.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus which allows the number of vias or other indentations or formations, to be formed in a surface of an object being processed, to be easily varied during production of the same by control of the intensity and/or duration of a substantially collimated or non-collimated light beam emanating from the laser.
Still another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus which is relatively less inexpensive to purchase and operate, in comparison to other known systems, while still improving the production rates of the objects to be processed.
A further object of the present invention is to increase the duty cycle of the laser so the laser operates for a shorter duration of time.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a two command structure which allows a motion control card to synchronize the X-axis and the Y-axis repeat positioners (e.g. the galvanometers), the product handling system (which controls movement of the product to be processed in the X and Y-axes) and the laser so that all three of these components operate at an optimum performance level and allow superior efficiency of the present imaging system than is conventionally achieved in the prior art devices and systems.
The present invention also relates to a control system for controlling movement of a product to be imaged relative to a laser and operation of a laser, the control system comprising: means for obtaining drill position data from a data storage device; means for simultaneously sending necessary signals to alter a path of a laser beam emitted by the laser relative to the object to be imaged; means for providing a feedback to indicate that the path laser beam, from the laser to the product to be imaged, is suitably altered; means for firing the laser beam for one of burning, drilling or forming a desired formation in a surface of the object to be imaged; and means for returning the control system for reading further drill position data from the data storage device.